FERNDALE — The city’s library is about to throw the book at scofflaws who fail to return materials and has hired a collection agency.

Libraries nationwide are increasingly relying on collection agencies to help settle overdue accounts.

Starting Monday, any Ferndale patron who has at least a two-month overdue bill of $20 or more on books and other items can expect a first letter from Unique Management Services.

Headquartered in Jeffersonville, Ind., the company specializes in library collections, dozens of them in Michigan, said Kenes Bowling, a spokesman for Unique Management Services.

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“We’ve worked with about 1,600 libraries, mostly in the U.S. and Canada,” he said. “Our process is very gentle and professional. But if a patron doesn’t respond to our efforts … we make a report to all three major credit reporting agencies.”

Unique Management already does collections for the Clinton-Macomb Public Library which has three locations in Macomb County

“The big advantage is getting items returned to us and fines paid that people think they are not obligated to pay,” said Clinton-Macomb Library Director Larry Neal. “Collection agencies help us trace people when they don’t return items and move out of state. If the items are not returned and the fines paid, it can hurt their credit rating.”

The company also works with the Library Network in Michigan. The cooperative network includes 65 libraries in Oakland, Wayne, Washtenaw, Livingston and St. Clair counties.

Ferndale Library Director Jessica Keyser said she was surprised when she began her job in Ferndale a couple months ago to find the library has about 2,500 books, DVDs and CDs missing from its collection over the past five years.

“Since 2007, the library has lost $41,000 of materials that people checked out and we have an additional $25,000 in unpaid overdue fees,” Keyser said.

The Ferndale Library Board enacted the collection policy last month.

As library budgets shrink, more libraries are forced to turn to collection agencies because they lack the manpower to track down overdue books from patrons.

“Our goal is not to punish people but to protect the taxpayer’s property,” said Neal of the Clinton-Macomb Library. “When someone doesn’t return items to the library we take it as seriously as someone not paying a credit card bill.”

Keyser said the collection agency, which has also done work for libraries in England, Australia and New Zealand, has a “friendly customer-service” approach.

A $10 fee is added to a patron’s overdue fee if the library has to turn the account over to the collection agency, Keyser said.

The library first sends a letter to patrons with overdue materials. If the letter fails to resolve the issue, it is turned over to Unique Management after 60 days.

The agency uses what it calls a “Gentle Nudge” program. Patrons with overdue bills are first contacted by letter.

“Most people respond at that point,” Bowling said. “If not, they get a second letter, then a phone call, then another letter or two and a final phone call.”

If the final phone call fails, the agency reports the patron’s delinquent overdue bill to the credit agencies.

“It’s not meant to be punitive,” Keyser said. “The reason libraries like to work with Unique is they try to nudge people back to the library. Patrons with overdue materials can’t use the library and the unreturned items are unavailable to our other patrons.”

Keyser said she used Unique Management Services when she was the director of the library in Hazel Park before coming to Ferndale.

“I was surprised by the good results we got from Unique in Hazel Park,” she said. “We were really impressed and didn’t receive any complaints from the patrons.”

The company has a success rate of from 60 percent to 70 percent, Bowling said. He estimates that about 1.5 percent of a library’s patrons typically account for all overdue materials.

“The library’s relationships are very important to them,” he said. “We have to keep that goodwill and just get people to return the overdue items. It is only a tiny percentage of people who cause the problems.”